Hue Jackson showing confidence and charisma thus far
February 25, 2016Cleveland State finishes strong to beat Northern Kentucky
February 25, 2016Donte Whitner is a hometown favorite and has been productive at times. The former Tarblooder and Buckeye seemed to start the 2015 season poorly, at least in the eyes of most fans and pundits, improving as the season went along. The team, of course, didn’t reap any benefits in the win column, however.
As a 30-year-old defensive back who is almost certainly out of his prime, he becomes a candidate for the Browns to cut thanks to his contract. On the most recent A to Z podcast with Tom Reed, Andre Knott and Zac Jackson both agreed that they believe Whitner isn’t long for the Cleveland Browns roster and his contract could be one of the really big reasons why.
Whitner signed a 4-year, $28 million contract prior to the 2014 season. He started out receiving more modest salaries to go along with his $9 million signing bonus. In all $13 million of his deal was guaranteed and he’s set to be an unrestricted free agent after the 2017 season. His cap number in 2016 will be $8.45 million if he’s kept, including a $6.2 million salary. If the Browns cut Whitner loose, he’ll cost them an accelerated signing bonus hit of $4.5 million in dead cap space which means that the Browns could add back $3.95 million in cap space to their cap number.
Here’s what it looks like:
It wouldn’t be a lot of fun to see a hometown favorite get cut, but we’ve seen time and again how much of a bottom line business the NFL can be. We usually get overly obsessed with cap implications and the fact that the Browns aren’t in any sort of cap trouble also makes things difficult to explain at times, but there are more important cash implications as well.
From a cash perspective, this is a blockbuster move for the Cleveland Browns. The Browns paid Whitner his signing bonus a long time ago; this cash went out the door and all that’s left is the accounting of it as the Browns are left to spread it out over four years. So, from a cash perspective, Whitner cost the Browns $4.5 million in payouts in 2015. The team will have to fork over $6.2 million brand new bucks to him in 2016 and if they think he’s declining, that’s a lot of new cash to outlay for a player who isn’t helping you as much in the present as you would like, and also has little to no chance of improving in the future.
Much like we talked about with Paul Kruger, there could be some wholesale changes thanks to the structure of contracts set up by previous regimes. With those two players alone, the Cleveland Browns could save about $7 million on the cap, but about $12.7 million in cash responsibilities in 2016. Cash is king, especially when you’re looking to do new deals with infinitely more valuable players like Alex Mack and Mitchell Schwartz. The team will undoubtedly want to get younger as it looks to rebuild. Players like Whitner, despite hometown ties, could be a part of the collateral damage in doing so.
22 Comments
They could also cut him for performance reasons.
If Hitner actually tackled, he’d be safe.
Cold.
same goes for kruger & dansby … age , salary & too little production for the money.
i’m expecting benjamin , gipson & mack to walk … so , i hope they can at least retain schwartz … pay the man.
CAMERON … i don’t believe you. take it somewhere else.
i guess i told him …
Yesterday I also proposed an idea of my favorite candidate teaming up as a vice-presidential candidate with Trump so that he can become president when Trump is assassinated. I was having a very cold day, emotionally.
I’m going to have to decline the offer. That’s not how I want to take office. Thank you, though.
It’s going to be a really interesting offseason for the Browns. Normally I would think that free agents would flee from the Browns like rats from a sinking ship, but I think what the Browns are doing and the fact that they’ve hired a coach who players love in Hue Jackson, they might be more competitive in re-signing some of these guys.
You were my first choice, but I can scratch you off the list.
XGarry_OwenX
Bode
Harv
saggy
Lunch
good post PAT … as well as attracting potential free-agents.
I’ll believe it when I see it. My money would go for Mack, Schwartz, Gipson and benjamin all walking.
Honest question: in other NFL cities is there as much concern, hand wringing, and desire to bring in “local” products as their is in Cleveland? It just seems so many Browns fans seem to think if a guys is from the 7 county area, or played at Ohio State, then they’re the answer to our problems, regardless of their actual on-field ability.
The only other market I can speak intelligently about is Detroit, where I KNOW this doesnt happen. Perhaps that because the Lions malaise is stringer than the Browns malaise, and all the Lions fans know it’ll take a miracle to get them consistently competitive, not just a bunch of local talent. Lions fans have been pretty much hopeless since the 70’s, without any real stretch of success to buoy their hope. Sure they had Barry and Calvin, but they knew deep down, that their ceiling was an early round playoff exit, and therefore never really got overly excited, and certainly have never deluded themselves into thinking “Hey if we sign Chuck Woodson, he can solve our secondary issues” (for example, when he left Green Bay)
So, I just dont get it. Where you’re from amounts to a hill of beans in the NFL. Lots of Browns fans seems to be okay with cheering for mediocrity, so long as that mediocrity is locally bred. I dont get it. And again, I could be very very wrong, but thats how it seems.
I think I would take that bet. If all four guys end up with teams that are not the Cleveland Browns, then you owe me a Coke.
It might be greater for Cleveland fans, but I think it’s somewhat understandable. Fans in NE Ohio watch 2 teams. One is horrible; one is great – and it’s just natural to see the latter as a pipeline of talent for the former. It may not be wise, but it is understandable. Also, we constantly see teams like Pittsburgh draft Buckeyes and beat us with those Buckeyes, so it’s natural to wonder why we are not doing that instead. Again, it may not be wise or accurate, but there’s a basis for it. Also, wherever I’ve been, I’ve noticed that Ohioans are passionately Ohioan, unlike most other states (almost as bad as Texas). I think it’s somewhat in our blood.
It would be interesting to study whether conditions like this exist in other NFL cities (i.e., great college team, crap NFL team). If so, but I can’t think of any, off-hand, I’d guess that the same happens there, to some degree. The fact that it doesn’t happen in Detroit is interesting, but it may not be a good analog, as Michigan does not traditionally rely on Michigan talent in the way that Ohio State relies on Ohio talent, which feeds the “locality” monster.
I think thats changed a bit with Dantonio building a pretty strong program out of Michigan raised three stars at MSU, but I get your larger point.
For draft picks and younger guys i understand it more. But a 30 yr old safety who costs 9 million and is definitely on the downside? Why would any rational NFL fan care where he went to college? Also, there are more Steeler fans in Columbus than Browns fans, which is another story all together.
I’m not so sure that we think a guy like Whitner is going to save the Browns so much as we’re just happy to see talented Buckeyes return home. When thinking about available FA options, all other things being equal, we just love to cheer for the guys that we used to cheer for.
The fact that the Steelers keep drafting Buckeyes certainly contributes to that Columbus fan differential. Arguably, that trend would reverse if the Browns did it more (and won).
When I lived in Charlotte, it seemed there were always a couple of guys brought in from the local ACC schools or Clemson. Julius Peppers comes to mind as well…….
There isnt that much handwringing actually. There’s a few idiots who espouse this POV on talk radio and keyboard warriors but all in all, no.
Dude, you owe me a coke!
I promise I didn’t edit it this way, but it looks like due to sheer stupidity on my part, you owe me a coke.
Ruling: JPF indicated those players would walk. PL then indicated that if those players ended up not on the Browns, then he would be owed a Coke.
Since two parties cannot bet on the same side, the bet is invalidated. However, if y’all are ever in Austin, I’ll buy you each a Coke (beverage, not powder).